What is a person in terms of adaptation. See what "adaptation" is in other dictionaries

Adaptation(lat. ad - to; aptus - suitable, convenient; aptatio - adjustment; late lat. adaptatio - adaptation) - a set of adaptive reactions of a living organism to changing conditions of existence, developed in the process of long evolutionary development (phylogenesis) and capable of being transformed, improved throughout individual development (ontogenesis).

Distinguish A. biological, physiological and socio-psychological. Biological A. is defined as the morphophysiological adaptations of animal populations and plant organisms to specific conditions of existence in the external environment. Physiological A. is understood as a set of physiological reactions that underlie the adaptation of an individual organism to changes in environmental conditions. Socio-psychological A. is an adaptation to the social environment.

Adaptation is a purposeful systemic reaction of the body, providing the possibility of life and all types of social activity under the influence of factors, the intensity and extensiveness of which initially causes disturbances in the homeostatic balance. Without adaptation, it would be impossible to maintain normal life and adapt to various factors external environment. Adaptation is of great vital importance for the organism, allowing not only to endure significant and abrupt changes in the environment, but also to actively rebuild its physiological functions and behavior in accordance with these changes, sometimes ahead of them. Thanks to adaptation, the constancy of the internal environment of the body (homeostasis) is maintained. Adaptation and homeostasis are mutually related and complementary processes that ultimately determine the functional state of the body. In addition to maintaining the constants of the internal environment with the help of adaptation, various functions of the body are restructured to ensure its adaptation to physical, emotional, and other stresses.

The adaptation of the body and its systems is facilitated by an increase in the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and an increase in the concentration of corticoids (corticosteroids) - hormones of the adrenal cortex in the blood.

The genetic program of the organism does not provide for a pre-formed adaptation, but the possibility of its implementation under the influence of the environment.

Distinguish between short-term and long-term adaptation. Urgent adaptation - an immediate response of the body to the impact external factor. Long-term adaptation is a gradually developing response of the body to the action of an external factor.

Distinguish also And. specific and nonspecific. A. specific causes such changes in the body that are aimed directly at eliminating or weakening the effect of an unfavorable factor. A. nonspecific ensures the activation of various defense systems of the body, appropriate for early stages adaptation to any environmental factor, regardless of its nature. Nonspecific components and stages of physiological A. are described by G. Selye (1936) under the name adaptation syndrome, or stress, consisting of three typical stages. The first - the "anxiety stage" - is characterized by a generalized reaction functional systems organism, aimed at mobilizing it defensive forces. The second stage of "resistance" consists in partial adaptation, the tension of individual functional systems, especially neurohumoral regulatory mechanisms, is revealed. At the third stage, the state of the body either stabilizes and a stable A. sets in, or a breakdown of A. occurs as a result of the depletion of the body's resources. The end result of A. depends on the nature, strength and duration of stressors, individual capabilities and functional reserves of the body.

When pathological conditions adaptation plays essential role in the development of various compensatory changes in the body, protective mechanisms that counteract the disease. Adaptation is based on a change in the structure of homeostatic regulation and the formation functional state adequate to the conditions and nature of the activity.

Definitions, meanings of the word in other dictionaries:

General psychology. Vocabulary. Ed. A.V. Petrovsky

Adaptation - the adaptation of the structures and functions of the body to environmental conditions. A.'s processes are aimed at maintaining homeostasis. The concept of A. is used as a theoretical one in those psychological concepts, which interpret the relationship of the individual and his environment as processes ...

Psychology of development. Dictionary under. ed. A.L. Wenger

Adaptation (in developmental psychology) (lat. adaptāre - to adapt) is a concept borrowed from biology about the process of development (in particular, mental) as an increasingly perfect balancing of the organism with the environment. This view is generally accepted...

Newest philosophical dictionary

ADAPTATION (Late Latin adaptatio - adaptation, adjustment) - the term was originally used in biological science to denote the process of adapting the structure and functions of organisms (populations, species) and their organs to certain environmental conditions A are formed on ...

Psychological Encyclopedia

(from lat. adaptore - to adapt) - in a broad sense - adaptation to changing external and internal conditions. Human A. has two aspects: biological and psychological. The biological aspect of A. - common to humans and animals - includes the adaptation of the body (...

English adaptation; German adaptation. 1. Adaptation of self-organizing systems to changing environmental conditions. 2. In the theory of T. Parsons - material-energy interaction with the external environment, one of the functional conditions for the existence of social. systems along with integration, goal achievement and preservation of value patterns.

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Adaptation

it is an integrative indicator of a person's condition, reflecting his ability to perform certain biosocial functions, namely:

An adequate system of relations and communication with others, the ability to work, study, organize leisure and recreation;

Variability (adaptability) of behavior in accordance with role expectations others (Psychological dictionary. M., 1997. P. 13).

When studying adaptation, one of the most pressing issues is the question of the relationship between adaptation and socialization. The processes of socialization and social adaptation are closely interrelated, as they reflect a single process of interaction between the individual and society. Often socialization is associated only with common development, and adaptation - with the adaptive processes of an already formed personality in the new conditions of communication and activity. The phenomenon of socialization is defined as the process and result of the assimilation of the active reproduction by the individual of social experience, carried out in communication and activity. The concept of socialization in more is related to social experience, development and formation of the individual under the influence of society, institutions and agents of socialization. During the process of socialization, psychological mechanisms interaction of the individual with the environment, occurring in the process of adaptation.

Thus, in the course of socialization, a person acts as an object that perceives, accepts, assimilates traditions, norms, roles created by society; socialization ensures the normal functioning of the individual in society. In the course of socialization, the development, formation and formation of the personality are carried out, at the same time, the socialization of the personality is necessary condition adaptation of the individual in society. Social adaptation is one of the main mechanisms of socialization, one of the ways of more complete socialization. Thus, social adaptation is: a) a constant process of active adaptation of an individual to the conditions of a new social environment; b) the result of this process.

The socio-psychological content of social adaptation is the convergence of goals and value orientations group and the individual included in it, the assimilation of norms, traditions, group culture, entry into the role structure of the group.

In the course of socio-psychological adaptation, not only the adaptation of the individual to new social conditions but also the realization of his needs, interests and aspirations; personality enters the new social environment, becomes its full member, asserts itself and develops its individuality. As a result of socio-psychological adaptation, the social qualities of communication, behavior and activities accepted in society are formed, thanks to which a person realizes his aspirations, needs, interests and can self-determine.

The process of adaptation in the psychoanalytic concept can be represented as a generalized formula: conflict - anxiety - defensive reactions. The socialization of the individual is determined by the repression of attraction and the switching of energy to objects sanctioned by society (Z. Freud), and also as a result of the desire of the individual to compensate and overcompensate for his inferiority (A. Adler).

E. Erickson's approach differs from the main psychoanalytic line and assumes that there is also a positive way out of the situation of contradiction and emotional instability in the direction of the harmonious balance of the individual and the environment: contradiction - anxiety - defensive reactions of the individual and the environment - harmonic balance or conflict.

Following 3. Freud, the psychoanalytic concept of adaptation was developed by the German psychoanalyst G. Hartmann.

G. Hartmann admits great importance conflicts for personal development, but he notes that not every adaptation to the environment, not every process of learning and maturation are conflict. The processes of perception, thinking, speech, memory, creativity, motor development of the child and much more can be free from conflicts. Hartmann introduces the term "conflict-free sphere of the Self" to denote the totality of functions that at any given moment has an impact on the sphere of mental conflicts.

Adaptation, according to G. Hartmann, includes both processes associated with conflict situations, and those processes that are included in the conflict-free sphere of the Self.

Modern psychoanalysts, following 3. Freud, distinguish two types of adaptation: 1) alloplastic adaptation is carried out due to changes in the external world that a person makes to bring it in line with his needs; 2) autoplastic adaptation is provided by changes in the personality (its structure, skills, habits, etc.), with the help of which it adapts to the environment.

These two actually psychic varieties of adaptation are supplemented by another one: the individual's search for an environment that is favorable for him.

The humanistic direction of social adaptation research criticizes the understanding of adaptation within the framework of the homeostatic model and puts forward a position on the optimal interaction of the individual and the environment. The main criterion of adaptation here is the degree of integration of the individual and the environment. The purpose of adaptation is to achieve positive spiritual health and the conformity of the values ​​of the individual with the values ​​of society. At the same time, the process of adaptation is not a process of balance between the organism and the environment. The process of adaptation in this case can be described by the formula: conflict - frustration - an act of adaptation.

The concepts of this direction are based on the concept of a healthy, self-actualizing personality, which strives to achieve its life goals, developing and using its creative potential. Balance, rootedness in the environment reduce or completely destroy the desire for self-actualization, which makes a person a personality. Only the desire to develop, to personal growth, i.e. to self-actualization, forms the basis for the development of both man and society.

There are constructive and non-constructive behavioral responses. According to A. Maslow, the criteria for constructive reactions are: their determination by the requirements of the social environment, focus on solving certain problems, unambiguous motivation and a clear representation of the goal, awareness of behavior, the presence in the manifestation of reactions of certain changes of an intrapersonal nature and interpersonal interaction. Unconstructive reactions are not realized; they are aimed only at eliminating unpleasant experiences from consciousness, without solving the problems themselves. Thus, these reactions are analogous to defensive reactions (considered in the psychoanalytic direction). Signs of a non-constructive reaction are aggression, regression, fixation, etc.

According to K. Rogers, non-constructive reactions are a manifestation of psychopathological mechanisms. According to A. Maslow, non-constructive reactions under certain conditions (under conditions of lack of time and information) play the role of an effective self-help mechanism and are characteristic of all healthy people in general.

There are two levels of adaptation: adaptation and maladjustment. Adaptation occurs when an optimal relationship between the individual and the environment is achieved through constructive behavior. In the absence of an optimal relationship between the individual and the environment, due to the dominance of non-constructive reactions or the failure of constructive approaches, maladjustment occurs.

The process of adaptation in the cognitive psychology of personality can be represented by the formula: conflict - threat - adaptation reaction. In the process of informational interaction with the environment, a person encounters information that contradicts her attitudes (cognitive dissonance), while experiencing a state of discomfort (threat), which stimulates the person to search for ways to remove or reduce cognitive dissonance. Attempts are being made:

Refute the received information;

Change your own attitudes, change the picture of the world;

Find additional information in order to establish consistency between previous ideas and information that contradicts them.

AT foreign psychology the neo-behaviorist definition of adaptation has gained considerable currency. The authors of this direction give the following definition of social adaptation. Social adaptation is:

The state in which the needs of the individual, on the one hand, and the requirements of the environment, on the other, are completely satisfied. It is a state of harmony between the individual and nature or the social environment;

The process by which this harmonic state is achieved.

Thus, social adaptation Behaviorists understand it as a process of change (physical, socio-economic or organizational) in behavior, social relationships or culture in general. The purpose of these changes is to improve the survival ability of groups or individuals. AT this definition there is a biological connotation indicating a connection with the theory of evolution and attention mainly to the adaptation of groups, and not the individual, and we are not talking about personal changes in the course of adaptation of the individual. Meanwhile, the following positive points can be noted in this definition: 1) recognition of the adaptive nature of behavior modification through learning, the mechanisms of which (learning, learning, memorization) are one of the most important mechanisms for acquiring adaptive mechanisms of the personality; 2) the use of the term "social adaptation" to refer to the process by which an individual or group achieves a state of social equilibrium in the sense of not experiencing conflict with the environment. Wherein we are talking only about conflicts with the external environment and are ignored internal conflicts personality.

The interactionist concept of adaptation defines the effective adaptation of a person as adaptation, upon reaching which the person satisfies the minimum requirements and expectations of society. With age, the expectations that are placed on the socialized person become more and more complex. The individual is expected to move from the state complete dependence not only to independence, but also to taking responsibility for the welfare of others. In the interactionist direction, an adapted person is considered to be a person who has not only learned, accepted and implemented social norms, but also takes responsibility, sets and achieves goals. According to L. Philips, adaptability is expressed by two types of responses to environmental influences: 1) acceptance and effective response to those social expectations that everyone meets in accordance with their age and gender. For example, educational activity, the establishment of friendly relations, the creation of a family, etc. L. Philips considers such adaptability to be an expression of conformity to the requirements (norms) that society imposes on the behavior of an individual; 2) flexibility and efficiency in meeting new and potentially dangerous conditions, as well as the ability to give events a desirable direction for themselves. In this sense, adaptation means that a person successfully uses the created conditions for the implementation of his goals, values ​​and aspirations. Adaptive behavior is characterized successful adoption decisions, showing initiative and clearly defining one's own future.

Representatives of the interactionist direction share the concepts of "adaptation" and "adaptation". T. Shibutani believed that each personality can be characterized by a combination of techniques that allow it to cope with difficulties, and these techniques can be considered as forms of adaptation. Thus, adaptation refers to well-organized ways of coping with typical problems (as opposed to adaptation, which consists in the body adapting to the requirements of specific situations).

Such an understanding of adaptation contains the idea of ​​personality activity, the idea of ​​the creative, purposeful and transformative nature of its social activity.

So, regardless of the differences in ideas about adaptation in various concepts, it can be noted that the personality acts in the course of adaptation as an active subject of this process.

S. L. Rubinshtein, analyzing the works of S. Buhler, accepted and developed the idea life path and came to the conclusion that the life path cannot be understood only as the sum of life events, individual actions, creative products. It must be presented as something more integral. To reveal the integrity, continuity of the life path, S. L. Rubinshtein proposed not only to single out its individual stages, but also to find out how each stage prepares and influences the next. Playing an important role in the life path, these stages do not predetermine it with fatal inevitability.

One of the most important and interesting thoughts of S. L. Rubinshtein, according to K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, is the idea of ​​the turning stages of a person's life, which are determined by personality. S. L. Rubinshtein affirms the idea of ​​personality activity, its "active essence", the ability to make choices, make decisions that affect one's own life path. S. L. Rubinshtein introduces the concept of personality as a subject of life. The manifestations of this subject are how activities and communication are carried out, what lines of behavior are developed on the basis of desires and real possibilities.

K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya distinguishes three structures of the life path: life position, life line and meaning of life. Life position, which consists in the self-determination of the personality, is formed by its activity and is realized in time as a line of life. The meaning of life value determines the life position and line of life. Special meaning is given to the concept of "life position", which is defined as "the potential for personal development", "a way of realizing life" on the basis of personal values. This is the main determinant of all life manifestations of personality.

The concept of "life perspective" in the context of the concept of the life path of the individual K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya defines as the potential, capabilities of the individual, objectively developing in the present, which should also manifest themselves in the future. Following S. L. Rubinshtein, K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya emphasizes that a person is the subject of life and the individual character of his life is manifested in the fact that the person acts as its organizer. The individuality of life consists in the ability of a person to organize it according to his own plan, in accordance with his inclinations and aspirations, which are reflected in the concept of "lifestyle".

As criteria right choice life path of a person K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya puts forward the main one - satisfaction or dissatisfaction with life.

The ability of a person to foresee, organize, direct the events of his life or, on the contrary, obey the course of life events, allows us to speak about the existence of various ways of organizing life. These methods are considered as the abilities of different types of individuals to spontaneously or consciously build their life strategies. The very concept of a life strategy is defined by K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya as a constant alignment of the characteristics of one’s personality and the way of one’s life, building one’s life based on one’s individual capabilities. The strategy of life consists in ways of changing, transforming conditions, situations of life in accordance with the values ​​of the individual, in the ability to combine one's individual characteristics, one's status and age opportunities, one's own claims with the requirements of society and others. In this case, a person as a subject of life integrates his characteristics as a subject of activity, a subject of communication and a subject of cognition and correlates his capabilities with the set life goals and tasks.

Social adaptation is an integrative indicator of a person's condition, reflecting his ability to perform certain biosocial functions, namely:

Adequate perception of the surrounding reality and one's own body;

Adequate system of relations and communication with others; ability to work, study, organize leisure and recreation;

Variability (adaptability) of behavior in accordance with the role expectations of others (Psychological Dictionary, M., 1997, p. 13).

When studying adaptation, one of the most pressing issues is the question of the relationship between adaptation and socialization. The processes of socialization and social adaptation are closely interrelated, as they reflect a single process of interaction between the individual and society. Often, socialization is associated only with general development, and adaptation is associated with the adaptive processes of an already formed personality in new conditions of communication and activity. The phenomenon of socialization is defined as the process and result of the assimilation of the active reproduction of social experience by the individual, carried out in communication and activity. The concept of socialization is more related to social experience, development and formation of the individual under the influence of society, institutions and agents of socialization. In the process of socialization, psychological mechanisms of interaction between the individual and the environment are formed, which are carried out in the process of adaptation.

Thus, in the course of socialization, a person acts as an object that perceives, accepts, assimilates traditions, norms, roles created by society; socialization ensures the normal functioning of the individual in society. In the course of socialization, the development, formation and formation of the personality are carried out, at the same time, the socialization of the personality is a necessary condition for the adaptation of the individual in society. Social adaptation is one of the main mechanisms of socialization, one of the ways of more complete socialization.

O. I. Zotova and I. K. Kryazheva emphasize the activity of the individual in the process of social adaptation. They consider socio-psychological adaptation as the interaction of the individual and the social environment, which leads to the correct correlation of the goals and values ​​of the individual and the group. Adaptation occurs when the social environment contributes to the realization of the needs and aspirations of the individual, serves to reveal and develop its individuality.

In the description of the adaptation process, such concepts as “overcoming”, “purposefulness”, “development of individuality”, “self-affirmation” appear.

Depending on the structure of the needs and motives of the individual, the following types of adaptation process are formed:

A type characterized by a predominance of active influence on the social environment;

A type determined by the passive, conformal acceptance of the goals and value orientations of the group.

As A. A. Rean notes, there is also a third type of adaptation process, which is the most common and most effective in terms of adaptation. This is a probabilistic-combined type based on the use of both of the above types. When choosing one or another option, a person evaluates the probability of successful adaptation when different types adaptation strategy. At the same time, the following are evaluated: a) the requirements of the social environment - their strength, the degree of restriction of the goals of the individual, the degree of destabilizing influence, etc.; b) the potential of the individual in terms of change, adaptation of the environment to himself.

Most domestic psychologists distinguish two levels of personality adaptation: complete adaptation and maladaptation.

A. N. Zhmyrikov suggests taking into account the following adaptability criteria:

The degree of integration of the individual with the macro- and microenvironment;

The degree of realization of intrapersonal potential;

Emotional well-being.

A. A. Rean connects the construction of a model of social adaptation with the criteria of internal and external plan. At the same time, the internal criterion implies psycho-emotional stability, personal conformity, a state of satisfaction, the absence of distress, a sense of threat, and a state of emotional and psychological tension. The external criterion reflects the conformity of the real behavior of the individual with the attitudes of society, the requirements of the environment, the rules adopted in society, and the criteria for normative behavior. Thus, disadaptation according to an external criterion can occur simultaneously with adaptation according to an internal criterion. Systemic social adaptation is adaptation both according to external and internal criteria.

Thus, social adaptation implies ways of adapting, regulating, harmonizing the interaction of an individual with the environment. In the process of social adaptation, a person acts as an active subject who adapts to the environment in accordance with his needs, interests, aspirations and actively self-determines.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

People live and function in the external environment, changing some aspects in it. The world with its objects and phenomena, in turn, also has an influence on every organism and their psyche, which is far from always positive and useful. Isolation from the environment will inevitably lead to death.

The animal world and the human world pass hard natural selection: temperature fluctuations, atmospheric pressure, humidity, illumination and other physical and physiological parameters. Having various adaptations, technical capabilities, we remain by nature sensitive and rather vulnerable beings.

This is especially felt when abrupt changes environment. For example, lowering our body temperature by only five or six degrees can lead to death.

At the physical level, people from birth to death use a mass of natural mechanisms that, changing their performance depending on the conditions around, allow him to remain in normal condition functioning.

Parameter transformation occurs not only on the physical level, but also on the mental level. The world, over the past few years, has accelerated in development, not everyone has time to realize what is happening and rebuild painlessly. Experts, doctors and psychologists say that every third today needs help or treatment in order to activate adequate adaptive mechanisms. inner world.

Scientists who made a significant contribution to the study of this problem and gave their definitions: French physiologist C. Bernard, American physiologist W. Cannon, Russian biologist A. N. Severtsov, Canadian physiologist G. Sele.

Definition and concept of adaptation

All scientific studies of the organism in the "man-environment" connection sooner or later come to an understanding of the mechanisms that allowed humanity to go through the entire evolution, despite overt and covert renewing aspects.

The phenomena of the external and internal world constantly pass the point of balance, adapt to each other. Man, self-regulating, retains favorable parameters in his body and accepts new, even non-ideal conditions of life. For example, unfavorable decisions are chronic diseases, flight into illness. These mechanisms are called homeostatic. They seek to balance, stabilize the work of all life support systems in order to avoid death.

Adaptation, adaptation is a process in which the interaction and interchange of external and internal environments are optimized in order to save life. The definition itself arose in the 19th century in biology. Later, it was applied not only to the life of the organism, but also to the development of the individual and even to collective behavior.

Consider some scientific formulations defining "What is adaptation":

• dynamic correspondence between the balance of a living system and the environment;
• adaptation of the structure and functions of the body and organs to the environment;
• adaptation of the sense organs to the characteristics of stimuli, protection of receptors and the body from overload;
• biological and psychological adaptation of the organism to external and internal conditions;
• the ability of an object to maintain its integrity when changing the parameters of the environment by self-regulation mechanisms.

Whatever definition we take, changes in everyday life flow in a continuous stream. Successful adaptation and self-regulation will lead to the normal development of the individual, to his physical and mental health.

The success of adaptation can be ensured by training, special exercises designed for both the body and the soul.

A huge number of multidirectional scientific disciplines dealt with the problem of adaptation from different angles of view formulated its definition: biology, psychophysiology, medicine and medical psychology, ergonomics and others. From the latest: extreme psychology, genetic psychology.

Adaptive processes affect all levels of human existence with their changes. from molecular biological to psycho-social.

Psychologists consider adaptation as a property of a person to adapt, its parameter of activity in the world of people. If the organism has biological reactions of self-regulation, then the personality has various means for undergoing integration into single system: mastering the norms, values, norms of society through the prism of their needs, motives, attitudes. In psychology, this is referred to as social adaptation.

In the system of personality adaptation, specialists there are three levels:

• mental (maintaining mental homeostasis and mental health);
• socio-psychological (organization of adequate interaction with people in a group, team, family);
• psychophysiological (preservation of physical health through the balance of relations between the body and the psyche).

The success of adaptation and its types

The setting and the possibility of achieving tasks in one's life are an indicator of the successful passage of mental adaptation by a person. There are two criteria: objective and subjective. Important parameters in this case: education, upbringing, labor activity and professional training.

Complicate social adaptation of mental and physical disabilities and disorders (defects of various organs or limitations of the body). In these cases, compensation comes to the rescue.

There is a whole concept that reveals the essence and definition of the adaptation syndrome. It's about stress natural phenomenon in the process of adapting to adverse conditions life. Complete release from stress - death, so the fight against it does not make sense. Psychologists teach to use available and adequate means of psychological protection.

Experts distinguish between dynamic and static adaptation. With static - personality structures do not change, only new habits and skills are acquired. In the dynamic - there are changes in the deep layers of the personality. For example, neurosis, autism, alcoholism are irrational adaptations to negative conditions in life.

Adaptation disorders

If a person is in stressful situation, that is, all the chances in three months to observe maladjustment reactions, which, in turn, last no more than six months. And not always: what stronger stress, the brighter the reaction disorder adjustment. The strength of maladaptation depends on the personal organization and culture of the society in which the person lives.

Recedes stress, and the personality gradually returns to the usual adaptive mechanisms. In the case when the stressogen does not disappear, the person is forced to switch to new level adaptation.

Change of school or work team, loss of loved ones, parents and other stresses that have changed the usual course of life lead to a violation psycho-emotional state. At any age, it will take time to stabilize it.

What disorders do experts state in people who have fallen into new conditions of existence? We list the most common of them: depression, anxiety, deviant behavior.

Thus, the problem of adaptation is interdisciplinary and very relevant in modern world . Numerous studies provide even more new questions and mysteries. The process of adaptation in its biological and mental basis is continuous and serves to preserve life.

Introduction

General understanding of the concept of adaptation

Adaptation to various sciences

Adaptation in psychology

Factors that determine the effectiveness of the adaptation process

Adjustment disorder

Introduction

Human life cannot take place in isolation from the external environment. Objects and phenomena of the external environment constantly have a certain impact on a person and determine the conditions for the implementation of his activities, and often their impact is negative, harmful. The conditions for the normal functioning of a person are very harsh. A change in body temperature of just one degree leads to a feeling of significant discomfort. A change in temperature by five or six degrees can lead to the death of the body. Man, like other animals, has undergone severe natural selection in his evolution, but still remains a rather vulnerable creature. Adaptation of the body allows you to smooth out many of the unpleasant consequences of a sharp change in the physical and physiological parameters of existence.

From birth to death, a person has to adapt to the constantly changing conditions of life.

So the mental health of the Russian population has not been left without the attention of concerned experts for several years now. About 30% of Russians today need medical or consultative assistance from a psychiatrist or psychologist, as they cannot adequately adapt. That is why the topic of adaptation is truly relevant today.

General understanding of the concept of adaptation

The concept of adaptation is one of the main ones in the scientific study of the organism, since it is precisely the adaptation mechanisms developed in the process of evolution that ensure the possibility of the organism's existence in constantly changing environmental conditions. Thanks to the adaptation process, the optimal functioning of all body systems and balance in the "man-environment" system are achieved. The French physiologist C. Bernard put forward the hypothesis that any living organism, including the human one, exists due to the ability to constantly maintain parameters of the internal environment of the organism that are favorable for its existence. This preservation occurs due to the work of complex self-regulatory mechanisms (which were later called homeostatic). Bernard was the first to formulate the idea that the constancy of the internal environment is a condition of any life. Later, the American physiologist W. Cannon developed this theory and called ideal condition homeostasis. Homeostasis is a mobile equilibrium state of any system, maintained by its counteraction to internal and external factors that disturb this balance. One of the central points of the doctrine of homeostasis is the idea that any stable system seeks to maintain its stability. According to W. Cannon, receiving signals about changes threatening the system, the body turns on devices that continue to work until it can be returned to an equilibrium state. If the balance of the processes and systems of the body is disturbed, then the parameters of the internal environment are disturbed, the living organism begins to suffer. The disease state will persist throughout the entire time of restoration of the parameters that ensure the normal existence of the organism. If the previous parameters cannot be achieved, then the organism may try to achieve equilibrium with other, changed parameters. The organism, therefore, is not only able to return the ideal parameters, but will also try to adapt to new, not ideal ones. In this case, the general condition of the body will differ from the ideal. Chronic disease is a typical example of temporary equilibrium. Human vital activity is ensured not only by striving for the internal balance of all systems, but also by constantly taking into account the factors that affect this organism from the outside. The organism is not only surrounded by the environment, it exchanges with it. He is forced to constantly receive from the external environment the components necessary for life (for example, oxygen). Complete isolation of a living organism from the external environment is tantamount to its death. Therefore, a living organism tries by all available means not only to return its internal state to the ideal one, but also to adapt to the environment, making the exchange process the most effective. In other words, adaptation is the process of adapting the internal environment of an organism to the external conditions of its life, that is, optimizing the interaction of "external" and "internal" in order to preserve and maintain life.

Adaptation in various sciences

The concept of “adaptation” arose initially in biology (“biological adaptation” is the adaptation of an organism to external conditions in the process of evolution, including morphophysiological and behavioral components), but it can also be attributed to general scientific concepts that arise at the “junctions” of sciences or even in certain areas of knowledge and are further extrapolated to many areas of the natural and social sciences. The concept of "adaptation", as a general scientific concept, contributes to the unification of knowledge of various (natural, social, technical) systems.

There are many definitions of adaptation, both having a general, very broad meaning, and reducing the essence of the adaptation process to the phenomena of one of the many levels - from biochemical to social.

G. Selye made a significant contribution to the development of the modern theory of adaptation in physiology, biology and medicine. His concept of stress organically complements the theory of adaptation. Stress stages are characteristic of any adaptation process, since they include both a direct reaction to an impact that requires adaptive restructuring (anxiety stage, alarm reaction), and a period of maximum effective adaptation (resistance stage), and (in case of insufficiency of adaptive mechanisms) a violation of the adaptation process ( exhaustion stage). The universal nature of these regularities makes it possible to similarly consider the relationship between mental adaptation and mental (emotional) stress.

The phenomenon of stress occurs when the normal adaptive response is insufficient.

The issues of adaptation have been studied at the cellular, organ, organism, population and species levels. V.Yu. Vereshchagin singles out, in particular, medical-biological, evolutionary-genetic and ecological directions in the study of the problem of human adaptation, respectively, defined differently. So, G. Selye identifies the constantly ongoing process of adaptation with the concept of life. HELL. Slonim defines adaptation as a set of physiological characteristics that determine the balance of the body with constant or changing environmental conditions. V.P. Kaznacheev considers physiological adaptation as a process of maintaining the functional state of homeostatic systems and the body as a whole, ensuring its preservation, development, performance, maximum life expectancy in inadequate environmental conditions. According to F.Z. Meyerson, adaptation is the process of adapting an organism to the external environment or to changes occurring in the organism itself. In his opinion, in addition to genotypic adaptation, which has developed in the process of evolutionary development and is inherited, there is a phenotypic adaptation acquired in the course of individual life. Phenotypic adaptation is defined as a process by which an organism acquires resistance to a certain environmental factor. F.Z. Meyerson considers the phased nature of these processes, the transition of urgent adaptation to guaranteed, ensuring the fixation of the existing adaptation systems. Studying the relationship between memory and adaptation, the researcher comes to a fair conclusion that memory is the main, necessary prerequisite for adaptation, but is not identical to it.

Since in the process of individual development of a person, adaptation mechanisms are developed in him, based primarily on the restructuring of social relations between people, V.G. Aseev believes that this concept can be used to determine scientific approaches to the study of social adaptation.

N. Nikitina defines social adaptation as the integration of the individual into the existing system of social relations. Such a definition does not take into account the specific features of social interaction, in which both sides (the social environment and the person) are mutually active. A similar concept of adaptation was used by J. Piaget, who defined it as a unity of oppositely directed processes: accommodation and assimilation. The first of them provides a modification of the subject's behavior in accordance with the properties of the environment. The second one changes certain components of this environment, processing them according to the structure of the organism or including them in the behavioral patterns of the subject.

According to T.N. Vershinina, if the social environment is active in relation to the subject, then adaptation prevails in adaptation; if the interaction is dominated by the subject, then adaptation is in the nature of vigorous activity.

F.B. Berezin believes that decisive role mental adaptation plays a role in a person's life, to a large extent influencing adaptation processes. Yu.A. Aleksandrovsky considers mental adaptation as the result of the activity of an integral self-governing system that ensures human activity at the level of "operational rest", allowing him not only to most optimally resist various natural and social factors, but also to actively and purposefully influence them.

Adaptation in psychology

Psychological adaptation is that aspect of adaptation where a person is considered as a person, affecting the structural components, personality traits, and its activity. The source of psychological adaptation is the interaction between the individual and society, and the means of implementation is the assimilation of the norms, values, requirements of this society by a person. At the same time, it should be noted that the criterion for the effectiveness of the adaptation process is the internal structure of the personality, its needs, motives, attitudes, etc. in accordance with the requirements of the community of residence. The main mechanism of this adaptation is changes in the structural connections and relationships of those properties and qualities that are determined by the personality, i.e. their integration into a single system.

The implementation of the process of mental adaptation, according to F.B. Berezina, is provided by a complex multi-level functional system, on different levels which regulation is carried out mainly by psychological (socio-psychological and actually mental) or physiological mechanisms. In the general system of mental adaptation, three main levels or subsystems are distinguished: the actual mental, socio-psychological and psychophysiological. At the same time, the tasks of mental adaptation proper are to maintain mental homeostasis and preserve mental health, socio-psychological - the organization of adequate microsocial interaction, psycho-physiological adaptation - the optimal formation of psycho-physiological relationships and the preservation of physical health. The study of indicators of mental adaptation therefore involves an integrated approach and simultaneous assessment of the current mental state, the characteristics of microsocial interaction, cerebral activity and autonomic regulation, respectively. An indicator of the success of mental adaptation is the achievement of the ability to perform the main tasks of activity. Two groups of them were most often used as adaptation criteria: objective and subjective. F.B. Berezin emphasizes that the effectiveness of adaptation cannot be assessed regardless of cost indicators, and defines mental adaptation as “the process of establishing the optimal correspondence between the individual and the environment in the course of carrying out activities characteristic of a person, which allows the individual to satisfy actual needs and realize those associated with them. meaningful goals(while maintaining mental and physical health), while ensuring compliance mental activity man, his behavior to the requirements of the environment. Factors that determine the effectiveness of the adaptation process

Violations of homeostasis and equilibrium in the human-environment system can be caused by various factors. Depending on the aspect in which the adaptation process was considered, a number of authors studied the influence of either biological or social factors. According to V.G. Aseeva, social factors (production and interpersonal relations, social connections, communication, etc.) are the same objective forms of influence on a person as biological factors, and social factors play a decisive role in adaptation mechanisms. It is obvious that the action of biological and social factors can be mutually mediated: “it can be confidently stated that such factors of progress as, for example, the acceleration of the pace of life, the intensification of production processes, urbanization, “alienation”, a complex of socio-psychological and cultural-historical conditions of our era - act on human biology not directly, but indirectly, refracting through the neuropsychic sphere.

IN AND. Medvedev describes three groups of factors (determinators) of the adaptation process that are closely interconnected. In his opinion, a person is affected by a complex of both natural adaptogenic factors and social ones, determined by the type of activity performed and the social tasks facing it. The third group of factors are the internal conditions for the performance of activities, i.e. the state of the processes that provide adaptation. G.M. Zarakovskiy singles out three groups of such processes: operational - constituting the direct content of those actions that a person performs to achieve the goal of the activity; support processes (energy, plastic, etc.) that create conditions for the performance of activities; regulatory processes - organizing, directing activities in general and managing the functioning of the first two groups.

F.B. Berezin studied the influence of character accentuations on the process of adaptation. In his opinion, accentuated personalities do not show violations of mental adaptation, because personality traits that determine their behavior contribute to mental adaptation if they meet the requirements of the environment. However, if prolonged stress of adaptive mechanisms leads to an undesirable sharpening of accentuated features, the adaptive capabilities of the individual are reduced and these features facilitate the emergence of intrapsychic and interpersonal conflicts.

Adjustment disorder

Adjustment disorder is a maladaptive reaction to clearly detectable psychosocial stress or stresses, which manifests itself 3 months after the onset of stress. This pathological reaction can be perceived by the subject as a personal misfortune, it is not an exacerbation of a mental illness that meets other criteria. The disorder usually resolves shortly after the stress wears off or, if the stress persists, a new level of adaptation is achieved. The reaction is maladaptive due to disturbances in social or professional activities or due to manifestations that go beyond the normal, usual, expected reactions to such stress. Therefore, this diagnosis should not be made if the patient meets the criteria for a more specific disorder.

Adjustment disorders are aggravated by the presence of one or more stressors. The severity of the stress or stresses does not always determine the severity of the adjustment disorder. Personal organization and cultural or social norms and values ​​contribute to inadequate responses to stress. Its severity is a complex function of degree, amount, duration, reversibility, environment, and personal relationships.

If you have a personality disorder or organic damage adaptation disorder may also develop. Such exposure may also result from the loss of a parent during childhood. Although, by definition, adjustment disorder occurs after stress, the symptoms do not necessarily begin immediately, nor do they immediately disappear when the stress stops. With constant stress, the disorder can last a lifetime. It can also occur at any age. Its manifestations are very diverse, with depressive, anxiety and mixed symptoms being the most common in adults.

Physical symptoms are most commonly seen in children and the elderly, but may affect others. Sometimes patients show violence and recklessness, drink, commit offenses or isolate themselves from society.

DSM-III-R Diagnostic Criteria for Adjustment Disorders.

A. A response to overt psychosocial stress (or multiple stresses) that appears within 3 months of the onset of exposure to the stress(s).

B. The maladaptive nature of the reaction is indicated by one of the following: 1) a violation in professional (including school) activities or in ordinary social life or relationships with others, 2) symptoms that go beyond the norm and expected reactions to stress. C. The disorder is not merely an example of an over-reaction to stress or an exacerbation of one of the previously described mental disorders.

G. The reaction of maladjustment lasts no more than 6 months.

findings

The problem of adaptation, being interdisciplinary, occupies a large place in the studies of domestic and foreign psychologists.

Almost all authors consider adaptation as a process of adaptation to various conditions of the external environment, during which new qualities or properties are acquired. This emphasizes the activity of adaptive processes that constantly accompany human life and contribute to its survival in various conditions.

But, despite numerous studies of adaptation, there are still many blank spots in understanding the essence, types and structure of this phenomenon, as well as the factors that determine it.

Bibliography:

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Berezin FB Psychological and psychophysiological adaptation of a person. - L.: Nauka, 1988. - 260 p.

Kaplan G.I. Clinical Psychiatry. M., 1994.

Maklakov A. G. General psychology. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2001.

Yanitsky M.S. Adaptation process: psychological mechanisms and patterns of dynamics. Tutorial. – Kemerovo: Kemerovo State University, 1999..